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Updated on
October 12, 2009,
J.D.
asks from
Prospect Heights, IL
on
October 10, 2009

Ideas of Fun and Safe Things to Do with Rubber Bands

My 12 year old really enjoys rubber bands and pens, and he's been finding all sorts of creative things to do with them, and some are unsafe. I haven't had success keeping the rubber bands away from him. I'm wondering if anyone knows of fun and Safe things someone obsessed with rubber bands and also pens can do (he takes apart the pens and shoots them). Thanks.

There are square "pegboards" you can get, probably at a store where educational toys are sold. Some have cards that suggest patterns for children to try to do on the boards. Or, children can work to create their own patterns. These are excellent resources for understanding geometric concepts.

try making a rubber band ball. you can also purchase or make geoboards - they have pegs (or if you make them, small nails) arranged in a grid so that you can make patterns and shapes on them using rubber bands. he might really enjoy the measuring and pounding nails to make a geoboard and you could even make a really big one - bigger than the commercial ones made for school.
don't know what to tell you about pens, but maybe he'd like to look into building a catapult or making paper or model airplanes or rockets- something that would require some thought and planning but also let him throw or launch things.

A lot of the sites feature crafts for "girls", like jewelry or belts. If your son's not into that, there are applied-science type activities, experiments, magic tricks, et cetera. There's also the old "thread spool and rubber band racecar" standby (Boy Scouts, anyone?)

If you take a piece of wood and some nails you can make a board that he can stretch rubber bands across and make designs and it is something that can be repeated endlessly. Color rubberbands are the best for this activity. The nails in the board are spaced in rows and pretty close (1/2 in appart)so the rubber bands can be stretched at different lengths. If you have a Discovery toy that has holes evenly spaced the holes might be large enough to stick a pen in and then it becomes a three dimensional design because you are working up as well as horizontally. Good luck.